Sentences issued in endangering child case

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September 20, 2012

Sentences issued in endangering child case

By BRAD KELLAR Herald-Banner Staff The Herald-Banner Thu Sep 20, 2012, 11:31 PM CDT

GREENVILLE — A local couple have been sentenced and fined, after pleading guilty to providing drugs to an infant.

Leslie Avery Hunt Vargas, 24, and Nicholas Villanueva Vargas, 40, both of Greenville, were arrested by the Greenville Police Department in July. The pair were indicted by the Hunt County grand jury June 22.

Nicholas Vargas had previously been indicted in connection with the distribution of counterfeit DVDs at a local flea market, but the charge was dropped after he was deported as an illegal alien.

Both defendants entered guilty pleas to charges of endangering a child during Wednesday hearings in the 196th District Court. Under plea bargain arrangements, Leslie Vargas was sentenced to 16 months in a state jail with a $1,000 fine. Nicholas Vargas was sentenced to one year in a state jail with a $500 fine.

The charge carries a maximum sentence upon conviction of up to two years in a state jail.

According to the indictments, the pair were alleged to have introduced a controlled substance to a female child, whether through breast feeding or injection, on our about Dec. 16, 2011. The pair were also alleged to have failed to seek medical care for the child, or to seek the services of a physician, for several days after her birth.

Nicholas Vargas was one of three people indicted on felony labeling charges following raids during the summer of 2007 on booths at the Quinlan Trade Days sale.

The charge against Vargas was later dismissed after he was deported for living in the United States illegally.

A total of seven people were taken into custody on Aug. 12, 2007 after investigators with the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) conducted raids on the sale which resulted in the seizure of thousands of allegedly counterfeit DVDs and CDs. Vendors at the sale were found to be selling counterfeit or pirated movie or music products.

Investigators seized more than 9,000 DVDs and CDs alleged to have been counterfeit, based on the fact that the labeling on the products was not consistent with standards set by the MPAA or the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The MPAA and the RIAA placed a value of more than $161,000 on the items seized by the sheriff’s office.